I have just been told that APMG are saying that independent trainers such as myself who work as associates for training companies will need to be individually registered to provide training the cost would be £925 per lecturer or £600 if registered through a training company - not clear what if anything this buys you. Sounds like a money-making scheme to me!

You will need to be qualified in each of the subjects that you are going to teach, and you will need to have gained a pass of 70% in the Practitioners subjects and 55% in the managers. (Does this mean you need to have a Practitioner pass to teach a practitioner exam, even if you have the Managers?) APMG are also considering introducing a trainers upgrade exam. (What would this be??)
Anyone know anything about this?
_________________Liz Gallacher,
ITIL EXPERT
Accredited ITIL and ISO/IEC20000 Trainer and Consultant - Freelance

1. You are correct in that in order to teach a Practitioner subject you MUST hold that qualification yourself (as well as the Foundation & Mgr), and you must have achieved 70% in your examination. For the clustered courses you must have passed the ‘clustered examination’ or hold all the individual Practitioner certificates.

2. To teach the Mgr course you need to have the Mgr certificate, and to have achieved at least 55% in the exams (why 55% - no idea!!)

3. In order to become an accredited trainer you will need to pass an ‘assessment’, and here is what the APM Group say about this:
‘In terms of the assessment process for a trainer, the Assessor will
observe the applicant presenting a number of training sessions,
including workshop and case study elements (in the product that the
applicant wishes to be assessed) to students, preferably as part of a
normal training course. This will be matched to the ATO material for
those sessions and the product syllabus. The assessor will also conduct an interview assessment of the applicant's understanding of the product and applicability, in particular of those areas not covered by the presentation sessions above.'

4.The cost! Yes you are right about the costs. If you want to be registered as a Freelance trainer with the cost will be:
- Registration Fee GBP 500 (waived for long-term trainers)
- Assessment Fee GBP 925
- Annual Renewal Fee GBP 600

On the above – I suspect that the Assessment Fee and Annual renewal might well be a ‘per course charge’ (suspect – but cannot confirm). So, if you wish to register as a Freelance Foundation and Mgr trainer, the fees will effectively double (and of course add on all the Practitioner Course).

BUT – and this is a big but. Why would you bother to register as a Freelance Trainer with the APM Group? What benefits does this actually offer you? The alternative is to do exactly the same as you do today (and I do today). Today – we are not employed by, but we provide training services for various training organisations (HP, Fox, Pink whatever, QA etc). Each of these organisations registers with the ISEB that they are using us as a Freelance trainer (and they pay a small fee for this). Neither ISEB or EXIN keeps a register of Freelance trainers, as they do not care if we are employed by HP or not – all they care about is that we are qualified. Although we work as Freelance trainers, in the eyes of the current examination boards we are Sponsored trainers affiliated with HP etc – why should this change?

What will change under the new structure re Freelance vs Sponsored – well the likes of HP etc will now have have to pay the APM Group GBP 600 for each trainer they want to register (but even this does not make any sense!!), but that is all!

The only advantage that I can see in registering yourself as a Freelance trainer with the APM Group is that you might (MIGHT) be able to pick up some work directly from them if they decide to become a training provider – that is all!

Thanks very much for your long reply - as you say, it is not at all clear what the benefits of registering with APMG would be. Not clear if training companies may want to limit the trainers on their books, if they need to pay a fee. EXIN and ISEB may break away completely anyway!
Needing to have the Practitioner certificate will kill this off completely - as a Manager exam marker, , with a distinction wh ywould I want to waste my time attending a course, paying for it, and losing money by not working, for the few courses that i am asked for each year.
Do APMG realise how many trainers they need to assess - and who will assess them?
With V3 possibly killing off the training demand later this year, until the new courses are ready, what are they playing at!!!!_________________Liz Gallacher,
ITIL EXPERT
Accredited ITIL and ISO/IEC20000 Trainer and Consultant - Freelance

Just wanted to chime in and say that someone at APMG isn't thinking straight. Isn't the whole point of the Manager's certificate that you have the understanding and are capable of implementing all the processes, i.e. the equivalent of a practitioner in each process + ? *waits to see what the new year brings*

As I understand it, the Service Manager certification indicates that the successful candidate understands how all the processes communicate and complement each other. It doesn't indicate an in depth knowledge of all the processes.

I obtained my SM and then taught the Support/Restore and Release/Control Practitioner courses. The level of understanding of each specific process to pass the Practitioner level courses was much higher than the more broader understanding of the processes required to pass the SM test.

That having been said, I would argue that someone who passes the SM is qualified to teach any of the Practitioner courses. But I wouldn't necessarily assume that someone who passed the SM test could walk in and pass any of the Practitioner tests.

...why would I want to waste my time attending a course, paying for it, and losing money by not working, for the few courses that i am asked for each year.
Do APMG realise how many trainers they need to assess - and who will assess them?